Chamber and committees

While we know many public services are facing increasing pressures, long waits for neurodevelopmental support are unacceptable. We expect that those with ADHD should receive appropriate treatment and support as soon as possible. However, we are aware there has been a significant increase in people seeking a diagnosis and requiring support for their neurodivergence and this is creating challenges for a range of services.

We are working closely with NHS Health Boards and Local Authorities to improve services and support for children and young people and their families, including by providing over £1 million to support five pilots to implement targeted aspects of the National Neurodevelopmental Specification and £55.5 million to Health Boards in 2023-24 to improve the quality and delivery of mental health and psychological services for all, including neurodevelopmental services.

For adult support, the Scottish Government commissioned a feasibility study into a National Clinical ADHD Pathway. The final report of this study was published in 2021 and found that a multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental approach, inclusive of ADHD, was needed. In response to this finding the Scottish Government provided funding for adult neurodevelopmental pathway trials.

Following the adult neurodevelopmental pilots, a final report was published in March 2023 outlining what is required to provide a multi-disciplinary neurodevelopmental approach across Scotland. The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations and we are working with the National Autism Implementation Team on implementation.

The Scottish Government has commissioned work through NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and the National Autism Implementation Team to provide a range of professional learning about ADHD and neurodevelopmental conditions at informed, enhanced, specialist and expert levels (according to the NES framework). These can be found on the Turas page (NHS Education for Scotland’s unified training platform) and accessed by the workforce in the future.

All training opportunities have been very popular, and where places have been limited have been oversubscribed. NES have worked closely with colleagues in health boards to identify the most appropriate staff to attend training in these instances. These opportunities have included training in specific assessment tools, webinars on ADHD assessment and support and workshops for clinical teams to support putting new learning into practice. There has also been professional learning about steps towards becoming a neuro-affirming practitioner and sharing learning and examples of practice developments across disciplines and across the country through networks and events.

The following table shows the resource funding allocated by SG to ILF Scotland annually over the last five years. Resource budget for ILF in 2024-25 is £62,241k. Funding for 2025-26 will be agreed through the annual budget process.

The Scottish Government collects information on whether any member of a household making a homelessness application to a local authority slept rough:

(a) during the three months preceding and b) the night before the application.

This data is collected from all local authorities as part of the homelessness application (HL1) data collection. Annual totals of rough sleeping reported by applicant households, broken down by local authority, are published in the main tables supporting the main annual publication, available at Supporting documents - Homelessness in Scotland: 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

The data collection defines rough sleeping as any member of the applicant household who has slept outside, in the open air (such as on the streets, or in doorways, parks or bus shelters) or slept in a building or other place not designed for habitation (such as barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations etc.). As households making an application for homelessness assistance are not specifically asked to define what form of rough sleeping they experienced, no specific figures relating to numbers of people rough sleeping in cars are available.

Data is not gathered for any household or individual rough sleeping who does not make a homelessness application to a local authority in Scotland and for this reason the statistics do not necessarily cover the entire homeless population. Those people who are experiencing homelessness but who do not appear in official statistics are often referred to as ‘hidden’.

It is not currently possible to estimate the scale of hidden homelessness in Scotland because of known complexities in reaching this population group. We are collaborating with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) researchers who are carrying out research which has potential to improve data collection in Scotland and across the UK on hidden homelessness, information available at "Hidden" homelessness in the UK: evidence review - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

The Scottish Government collects information on the property type that the main applicant making a homelessness application to a local authority became homeless from. This includes a category for those who have been ‘long-term sofa surfing’. This is defined as where an applicant has been moving between homes for a period of six months or more. Where only one or two different homes have been used for most of the period, another appropriate property type should be selected e.g. friends or relatives.

This data is collected from all local authorities as part of the homelessness application (HL1) data collection. Annual totals of long-term sofa surfing, reported by applicant households, are published in the data tables accompanying the main publication Supporting documents - Homelessness in Scotland: 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Data is not gathered for anyone with experience of sofa surfing who does not make a homelessness application to a local authority in Scotland and for this reason the statistics do not necessarily cover the entire homeless population. Those people who are experiencing homelessness but who do not appear in official statistics are often referred to as ‘hidden’.

It is not currently possible to estimate the scale of hidden homelessness in Scotland because of known complexities in reaching this population group. We are collaborating with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) researchers who are carrying out research which has potential to improve data collection in Scotland and across the UK on hidden homelessness, information available at "Hidden" homelessness in the UK: evidence review - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) .

The increased scale and pace of Transport Scotland’s ambition in active travel is bringing wholesale reform of the delivery model for both active travel infrastructure - through the Active Travel Infrastructure Fund (ATIF) - and for behaviour change - through the creation of the Regional Transport Partnership (RTP) led Active Travel People and Place Programme (ATPP). With public funds facing unprecedented levels of pressure, it is vitally important that active travel investment is targeted where it can make most impact.

Support for grass-roots community groups and charity-led projects is also being decentralised, with acknowledgement from everyone involved in active travel that decisions about how to support grass roots behaviour change work needed to be taken closer to communities, and in a way that’s more joined up with local and regional transport strategies. As part of this process, it was decided we would not be continuing with direct support for a number of programmes, including the ebike loan fund.

It is extremely disappointing that the UK Government has excluded Scotland from its bill whilst extending the Bill to cover convictions in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Government can confirm that a Bill is currently going through the usual parliamentary process and will be introduced shortly.

The Scottish Government is reviewing options in relation to collecting data on secondary breast cancer in Scotland. This includes consideration of the NHS England audit, data available in Scotland, clinical time required, other cancer data priorities and how it can be used to improve services.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-26667 on 2 May 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government still intends to publish its Aviation Statement shortly and we will confirm details as soon as possible.